20 months old and pigtails

Today, Lexie is 20 months old. Holy cow, where does the time go? She is getting so big, and talking, and running everywhere trying to keep up with her sisters. She's got a huge personality, and is getting REALLY good at throwing some huge fits when she's upset.

Today I also tried to put her hair into itty-bitty piggy tails, and they looked so cute! She even said so when I was done. It's kinda funny, but whenever she gets dressed, she says, "coot". So I decided to take some photos of my new little 20 month old.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of a toddler, and actually have her look at the camera, and smile?

First ya gotta start with some bribes. Fruit snacks always work pretty well.

Only problem is they usually are more interested in the fruit snacks, than in you. Then their mouth is full, and chewing, so good luck getting a smile.

There ya go, not half bad, she's at least looking at the camera, but without a smile. No doubt, wondering if there are any more treats.

There they are. Gotta snuggle up as close to those babies as we can get.

Ooh, another look at the camera! No smile, and a handful of snacks though, but again, not too shabby.

At last, success. I had to hold the snack in my hand, right by the lens of the camera, and she was not liking that, until she heard the camera keep clicking, as fast as it could to get a picture, and that, it seemed, warrented a smile.

We love our adorable, and fiesty Lexie! I can't believe she's going to be a big sister soon, she just seems too little. Then she'll do something and I'll be reminded just how old this little girl is getting. But I really do love this age, even with all the challenges it holds, and wish I could keep my kiddos here for just a little bit longer.

Renewed

Sometimes the ups and downs of motherhood are exhausting. There are mouths to feed, all day long it seems, rooms to clean, laundry to do, tears to dry, boo-boos to kiss, fights to break up, places to drive them to, hugs to give, and time to spend with them teaching them, playing with them and simply giving them their mom for awhile.

Sometimes, it's kinda nice to take a small break from it all and rejuvinate. I haven't had too many chances to do this. As a stay at home mom, I don't get to take too many breaks from the girls, and frankly, I don't have a ton of patience to begin with, although we seem to manage pretty well. Thank goodness they're as cute as they are.:)

Last weekend I was able to take a few days and fly to California for my sisters baby shower. I have never, not once in 6.5 years, left Kevin home alone with the girls overnight. It was really quite nice. I knew the girls were in great hands with him and grandma Williams watching them, (which is great cause Kevin ended up getting sick while I was gone. Don't boys know that mom's can't get sick?) :)

I was able to spend some time with my adorable niece, LaNea. Ususally my kids are around so I don't get to just enjoy the nieces and nephews, so it was nice to play with them, and hand them back to mom to do the dirty work. :) Although I must say, she is one HAPPY baby! If it weren't for all the spit-up, she'd be about the easiest baby I've ever seen.

But as always, the best part about being away, is getting to come home and see their happy, beautiful faces. Yes, I'm talking about Kevin too, I missed him bunches too, and felt awful that he was sick and trying to watch the girls too, something I have almost never had to do, knock on wood!

(Can't have a post without a photo of one of the cuties!)

The girls are happier, and so excited to see me. I have a little more patience, for a little while anyways, and Halli had so many stories to tell. It was kinda crazy how, after being around a 5 month old for a few days, Lexie seemed really big!

Sometimes it's just nice to get away, reinvigorate, and feel ready to come back home and delve into being a mom again. Plus, I can only imagine how much the girls love it when I'm happier and better able to handle their mood swings with a good attitude. Now I just need to make it last more than a couple days

Wild About Ashlyn

Thursday morning my sister-in-law and I headed out to California for my younger sisters baby shower! I was so excited and had been working on quite a few things for quite a while so that we could give her an awesome party.

Unfortunately, I don't think anyone told baby Ashlyn that she technically wasn't invited to her own shower. She thought she had to be here in time. Apparently shortly before we got on the plane my sisters water broke. She was just shy of 35 weeks and headed to the hospital. Luckily no baby yet, they're mostly just worried about infection, so she's in the hospital on bed rest because the doctor would like her to make it to 36 weeks before delivering if possible.

This left us with the fun task of trying to decide just what to do. Do we skyp her in to the shower? Have it at the hospital? We can't have it after the baby's born, (which would have probably been ideal), cause I'm only in town for the weekend.

In the end the staff at the hospital was more than accommodating, and pretty supportive of a bunch of women cramming into the delivery room for a baby shower.

Now we had the fun task of trying to make a hospital room look festive and fun! Talk about a bit of a chore, but actually it worked quite well, and in the end the shower was fun and enjoyable and Britt was able to stay on bed rest throughout the party!

We decided to do a "Wild about baby" theme, mostly cause my sister really wanted a giraffe print diaper bag and I love the style!

There were lots of things made on photoshop, but I love how it all turned out. Cupcake toppers, or brownie bites is what we actually had. Some mini Hershey nugget wrappers with Ashlyns name on it. Some really cute favor bags that the chocolate giraffes went into, and the main piece, a giraffe print picture.

As always ya gotta have some yummy food, and in California the tree's are blossoming with these beautiful pink flowers and they made the flower arrangement look amazing!

The drink labels, cause everything has to match, even the drinks, right?

The giraffe print picture, I may find a way to bring it home and hang it in the playroom, I just love it!

A close up of the favor bags, personalized of course, and the chocolate giraffes that went inside.

And last but not least, the lady of the hour. Sorry about the fun hospital room pic Britt, but ya gotta have a picture of guest of honor. It has been so fun to be out here, visiting with the family, and although I would have LOVED to meet my new niece while I was here, I suppose it really is better for her to stay put! Good luck Britt and Brett (I know, matching names, cute huh?) Can't wait to meet your sweet little girlie!

Lazy Saturday Mornings

I love saturdays. The one day a week where we can lay in bed and relax and there's generally no rush in the mornings. We all end up in our bed, with baby einstein on for Lexie so she'll hang out with us.

The girls are climbing all over Kevin, begging him to get up cause they're "budapest, hungary!" as we say in our house when we're starving.

Kevin is covering his head, (and other places) trying not to get hurt while they climb and jump on him.

All while I get to cuddle with Peyton, cause she's a momma's girl through and through. (unless of course Sean is around, but that's another story!:)

Lexie actually slept till 7:50 this morning, that's a record for her, so we actually did get to sleep in, it was GREAT! and there's nothing better than three little girls to share your bed with to make you feel loved in the morning.

Peyton also picked me some cookies off her cookie tree while we were in bed. I love their imaginations at this age. She was a princess already this morning, and she showed me how to make a star. She's turning into a real chatterbox, if she's comfortable with you, she can still be really shy too.

Now Halli and Kevin are gone on a little date to pick up donuts for breakfast, just what the pregnant lady needs, right? They have a great relationship, and Halli is a true daddies girl. I love seeing them interact together, and when she gets in trouble from dad, it's 100x worse for her than getting in trouble from me, cause she adores her dad more than anything.

I know someday saturday mornings are going to be the busiest of the week, as they start getting involved in sports and what-not, but for now, we sure do enjoy the time we get to hang out in mom and dad's bed having our lazy saturday mornings.

Missing tooth

I'm still getting used to seeing her without her front tooth, and she's still getting used to how it feels!

My name is April...and I'm addicted

I really do love the world of blogs. You can find endless ideas for almost anything you want to do. There are some REALLY creative women out there and I love that through blogs they can share all their knowledge, (and free tutorials) with me!

I also love to attempt to decorate my home. This usually happens one room at a time, very slowly, and for some reason it's always the kids rooms first. But, because of a limited budget, and the fact that I can't justify buying new furniture for kids who will ultimately destroy it, I tend buy old furniture that needs to be refinished.

I actually don't mind doing this and have found some WONDERFUL deals through craigslist and at consignment stores. So I collect all this used furniture. Usually I get something done with it fairly quick, but lately, not so much.

I'm starting quite a collection in the garage. Some of which I've had since before christmas. I think I'm addicted, to crafts, and thinking I can do all these fun things. I'm just really bad a follow through.

Here are just a few things I've got stored.

A picture frame that I got at an antique store. I'll be taking the picture out and refinishing the frame for a project later this month.

These beautiful nightstands that I found last week at a consignment store for $100, more than I wanted to spend, but still not too much. I love them, and Halli and Peyton will Love having them in their room. I especially love the drawers and the fact that Halli will now have somewhere to collect all her papers and what-not that she hordes.

A coffee table that we got quite awhile ago off craigslist for $50, I LOVE the shape of it, and the fact that it has three drawers for storage. But the colors need to be changed, someday!:)

I've gotten all the fabric and trimings for these adorable valentines bags. There's a free tutorial by the woman who made them on "our scoop'. But I still haven't started them. Valentines is sunday, so if it's gonna happen I need to get on the ball!

A cheap $25 kitchen table we found on craigslist. It was old and pretty beat up, but sturdy. So this weekend, I decided that since the playroom is basically done, I should get this done too. I wanted a large kids table for the playroom, but didn't want to spend a couple hundred on it. So we found this on craigslist and brought it home.

I cut the legs down to kid height, sanded the whole thing with my trusty mouse sander, and started to paint. I planned on painting the whole thing red, but after seeing the top red with the white legs, I loved it, plus it saved me time on more painting. I just touched up the white and it was finished!

I did this this weekend while Kevin was out of town, I felt like I should have something accomplished by the time he got back!:) It really only took a couple hours, and I used a hand saw, kinda tiring, but if you have a power saw, this would be a VERY quick project.

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! We spray painted the whole thing with varnish and we're waiting for it to dry really well before we put it in the playroom.

Speaking of which, it's finished! We moved the furniture back in, and even Kevin said it feels cozy now. I think I'd have to agree.

The bookcases are from Ikea, an I just painted the backing green to add some more color. We now have a colorful fun playroom with way more storage! There are still a few things I want to do in here, but that will come with time.

I want to put big letters on the wall that spell out PLAY, I already have them, but haven't painted them. Another project that needs to be done. Not to mention the big shelf we got at Ikea that needs to go on the wall, a chalkboard, curtains, and our suprise for the girls!:)

So, there are a few of the things I've got lined up to do. This isn't even showing my closet full of bags with stuff for valentines day, the playroom, and a bunch of stuff for my sisters baby shower next weekend. If only I weren't a procrastinator, things might get done in a timely manner. oh well, eventually I'll get it all done right? For now, I promise to not buy anything else until I've finished most of these! (notice, I did not say ALL:). But that doesn't mean I don't already have ideas for more projects bouncing around.

A rainy friday at home

Last night we had a thunderstorm roll through, and I've learned after the last couple that Peyton doesn't come into our room anymore. She's terrified of thunder and used to end up in bed with us when there was a storm. But recently, I've found that she likes to cuddle up with Halli in bed.

Halli is an awesome big sister for letting her do this, and for comforting her throughout the storm. Talk about melting a mommy's heart! I love seeing them take care of and love one another. It doesn't always happen but it's great when it does.

After the storm, the girls never went back to sleep. I wasn't too happy about that one, but what are ya gonna do? Instead they were up reading and playing at 5am. With all the reading Halli found a new book with some crafts in it and a poem at the end. It's called "I love to sing", and it's Ariels poem. So this funny girl who loves to sing told me that when she grew up she was gonna go on american idol and sing it. She said, "I'm gonna say it's, I love to sing, by Ariel." She then proceeded to sing the song to me in her own made up tune. Then she went downstairs and sang it to Kevin.

She comes up with some of the funniest things, but at the same time she's always thinking on her toes. Gotta love a smart kid!

I tried to get pictures of her all day, but she just wasn't letting me. I practically had to bribe her to smile at the camera.

Then see, she wouldn't even smile, she's just look!

Since Kevin was home today because of the rain, he insisted that we work on the playroom since it's been sitting unfinished for a couple weeks. What can I say, I have little to no motivation right now.

But with his help we knocked out a good portion and there are just a few minor things to do before we can move everything back in!

The fun wall colors and the cork chair rail. That's really for Halli so she can hang up all her many drawings. I'm pretty sure that at some point, we won't even be able to see the cork anymore.

This wall is looking a little bare, because it's waiting for a small magnetic chalkboard for the girls, and a very big suprise for the majority of the wall. Can I say I'm beyond excited for what's going right where the duct tape is! Sadly it'll have to wait till my parent's can come out to help since Kevin and I aren't quite handy enough to handle that kind of project.

Also, I finally took pictures of Lexie during a prayer. We weren't praying at the time, I just told her we were so she'd make the face. She squints her eyes, but never quite closes them. Then when you say amen, so does she and she opens her eyes real big!

She has also become a major book worm lately, and LOVES to sit and read books and have them read to her. I love it!

Finally, I couldn't have a post without showing off the third cutie in the family. Besides the constant fighting, and the fact that Lexie is always beating up on Peyton and she sits and takes it and just screams, things couldn't be better with her. Maybe we'll have to work on protecting herself just a little more. You know, without hurting her sister. ahh, fun times.